February 2006
''Friday '''Bureaucracy, Finance, Media, Police, Politics' And so another month has passed with no incident in the city’s sewer system, much to the relief of both the authorities and The Constabulary, both of whom have spent vast amounts of this years funding on dealing with the issue. Indeed, both The Constabulary and civil operations have commented that they will require additional funds from the city’s coffers to see them through the final months of this financial year, although it is likely that they will have to tighten there belts in certain areas to offset allegations of not budgeting for crisis. Expect this one to become a hot political potato in the coming months. Bureaucracy, Industry, Police, Politics So just how did the authorities manage to sort out the problems in the sewers at such short notice? It was only three months ago that they stated that they had no idea what was causing the problems and that they were looking for outside experience to help deal with the problem, and then suddenly the problem was gone. The bigger question is just how much involvement did The Constabulary have in the solution? One minute they are being asked to increase security patrols the next minute they’re blocking off access whilst the situation is “dealt with”; all very hush-hush. Still, its one less problem for the city to worry about, now if they can resolve the issues of eco-terrorists, drug running and a chronic shortage of government cash in the area we’ll be laughing. Industry, Legal, Police, Politics The Constabulary remains tight lipped about how it dealt with the problems in the city’s sewers, although rumour has it that they may have employed an outside contractor to deal with the problem. In contrast to his previously “open book” policy, Chief Constable John Winters has refused to comment on the matter and has asked for details to be classified, a move that has raised a few eyebrows amongst others in The Constabulary. Understandably, some are beginning to wonder if The Constabulary actually employed an illegal contractor, it has long been rumoured that not all Castelan agents were arrested following the events of December 2003, although this rumour has been vigorously denied by all involved. Finance, Legal, Media Want to know who The Constabulary employed to clean up the sewers? Just follow the money trail if you want the answer. Anything can be bought these days, including a juicy contract with the authorities if you really want it enough. And just because The Constabulary benefited from it doesn’t mean that it necessarily cost them, there are plenty other things that people would want from an organisation like The Constabulary instead of money, information for instance. Why haven’t I gone looking for who’s behind this, well, answer this; if The Constabulary is refusing to comment on the matter they must have a reason, if The Constabulary is refusing to comment on the matter and there are rumours that they have had the matter classified, they must really have a reason for keeping this quite. Church, High Society, Legal, Media, Police, Underworld It is said that every man has his price and it appears that someone has finally found John Winters. After riding to the rescue of The Constabulary last year and promising to leave no stone unturned in the hunt for the corruption that led to the assassination of his predecessor, James Drake, it now appears that he is now employing outside contractors to deal with tricky problems at no cost to the city, so what is he paying them in? One rumour is that the problem may have been sorted by a criminal organisation in exchange for The Constabulary going easy on them for a couple of months, although understandably no one has confirmed this. Health, Police, Street Hey, you know how the Consortium is trying to muscle all of the hard drugs out of the city? Well rumour has it that they cut a deal with The Constabulary in exchange for clearing up their little problem with the sewers in exchange for The Constabulary turning a blind eye to their recent activities and helping them clear the streets. What did the Consortium do to clean up the sewers, well that’s anybody’s guess, although rumour has it that the bigwigs in that group aren’t short on ability to deal with anything, if you catch my drift. Bureaucracy, Finance, Legal, Police, Underworld Want to know why The Constabulary isn’t unduly worried about the Sandernacht Group’s actions at the moment? Turns out that it was them that were contracted out to deal with the issue in the sewers and the current stance on their actions is payment for “services rendered”. When you factor in that The Constabulary knows who Sandernacht is and it all begins to make perfect sense, the reason they haven’t arrested them is they’re to reliant on them to keep the city working. Health, High Society, Police, University Have you noticed any changes in John Winters? Psychiatrists at Keele University have, noting that he appears to be having trouble remembering past events at the moment, especially in press conferences. A spokesman for The Constabulary stated that this is nothing unusual, especially given the levels of stress that Winters’ is subjected to on a day to day basis. Others remained unconvinced, noting that the Chief Constable has dealt with issues like this before and hasn’t shown any similar signs of stress. Legal, Police, Politics Want to know why Chief Constable John Winters is so occupied at the moment? The rumours of a large scale investigation into the possibility of multiple terrorist organisations operating in the city may well be true. No one will comment on the issue for security reasons but it may be linked to the recent problems in the city’s sewers (remember all those rumours about “dissidents” using the sewers to travel across the city) and the use of an outside contractor (read government agency) to deal with the problem. The big question is, why haven’t the public been warned that there are terrorists in their midst, or are the supposed targets located outside of the city? Finance, High Society, Industry, Media Reed Communications has been forced to announce the cancellation of its proposed drama spectacular “When a Boy Becomes a Man” after negotiations with the leading man fell through. The project, which is reported to have already cost nearly ten million pounds even before filming began, was described as a “psychological rights of life drama focussed on the trial and tribulations that befall a single man”. The value of Reed’s shares dropped sharply following the announcement, but stabilised quickly after insurance payments covered the costs. Reed hopes to be able to resurrect the plan in the future but notes that communications with the original star may now be impossible with regards the project. High Society, Media, Occult, Street So just who did Reed Communications have lined up as the leading man in their new drama, and more importantly why did the negotiations fail. No one at Reed will give an answer; all of the staff have signed none-disclosure contracts preventing them from discussing the project. Even more interesting are the rumours that one of the studios on the campus has now been declared “off limits”, reportedly whilst the sets are dismantled before putting into storage. Still it would be a quick way for an enterprising journalist to make some money; find out who the leading man was and put his name in all the scandal magazines. High Society, Media, Occult, Street Okay, anyone else confused by the “Sam” story in the newspapers today? It appears to be in every English language newspaper published in the United Kingdom today, although no one knows what it relates to. One theory is that it could be a “Viral Advertisement”, designed to get people talking about a product before launching any information about it to the public. Still, it’s an intriguing story and one that’s sure to raise questions. A number of conspiracy forums are already alight with the possibility that this may in fact be a coded message for foreign agents spying in the UK, but most people are writing this off as mere paranoia. Bureaucracy, Media, Police, Politics The Constabulary continue to investigate the death of Richard Speight last month, after both he and the rest of his family were found dead in their home. Initial investigations focussed on the possibility that they were killed in a robbery gone wrong, but this has since been dismissed following the discovery of forensic evidence linking the murders to the environmental terrorist group at large in the city at the moment. The authorities and The Constabulary is offering a £10,000 reward for anyone who has information that will lead to the arrest of members of the group as further attacks on prominent politicians are now feared. Meanwhile, security has been increased around all government figures in the city and the proposed visits of a number of dignitaries have been cancelled. Media, Police, Politics, Transport The Constabulary has been forced to admit publicly that for the last two months Richard Speight has been being blackmailed by the environmental terrorist group behind a series of attacks on the city’s oil and fuel industry. The terrorist organisation, now named as “Má thosaíonn ball seirce ag cur fola” (If a beauty spot bleeds), is now believed to be at the centre of an ongoing investigation into the activities of what are believed to be numerous terrorist organisations in the city (possibly using the city as a base of operations against Birmingham and Manchester). Mr. Speight had agreed to try and entrap the group responsible, but a fatal complication n the schedules of the protecting officers allowed members of the group to murder him and his family during a shift change. The Constabulary is to launch an investigation into the matter. Bureaucracy, Finance, Industry, Media, Politics An emergency meeting of local government has been held to discuss the implications of the Richard Speight murder. Now that the truth of the blackmail plot (which was known by local councillors) has been made public, the council has decided to overturn his recent decisions to place a stop on all planning applications. Unfortunately this has led to a rise in construction costs as contractors across the city now compete to ensure that they are able to secure the necessary sub-contractors. Still, the rise in costs has provided a much needed cash injection into the city’s finances as the increased number and value of financial transactions prop up the economy. Occult, Street Just who are “Má thosaíonn ball seirce ag cur fola”, no one seems to have heard about them and everyone on the streets knows that its just petty thugs trying to screw the economy, not a committed environmental terrorist group. If you ask me, there’s something shady going on, a couple of the union guys have been sent on “extended holidays” for no apparent reason and The Constabulary just “happened” not to be there when Speight was murdered. Sounds like a stitch up, I’d be looking to see where everyone who “benefits” from his death was on the night. ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. Church, High Society, Media, Police, Politics The memorial service for Richard Speight passed without incident after local ministers asked that the privacy of the remaining family be respected. Rumours that Má thosaíonn ball seirce ag cur fola” intended to launch further attacks against members of the local government turned out to be false, although this didn’t stop there being a heavy Constabulary presence at the funeral. Elsewhere, the church continues to condemn the attacks stating that groups that had a political agenda would be better of turning to the ballot box instead of the gun. Media, Transport, University Whilst everyone else has been suffering from the increased fuel prices, Clockwork Cabs, a new private transport company in the city has suffered very little due to its commitment to renewable fuels. Over ninety percent of its vehicles have been converted to run on vegetable oil based fuels, meaning that the hike in fuel prices has not affected the company. Still, this has led some to believe that the company may in fact have links to those involved in the recent attacks, a claim that has been vigorously denied by the company. The company has attempted to offset some of the criticism by offering reduced fares for students using the service. High Society, Media, Occult, Street James Helmudson will tonight unveil his latest work, a study into the rituals surrounding death and communication with the dead and the growth of the spiritualist market. Amusingly titled “We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale” (it shares its title with an unrelated book by Philip K. Dick), the book chronicles the eighteen months that Helmudson spent visiting a number of mediums across the country to discover there methods an how they worked. Written in Helmudson’s trademark wry tones, the book is already attracting controversy for its none partisan views on the subject, by the end of the tome Helmudson has come down firmly on the side of the medium and notes that he has experienced some success himself in the field (although he does not describe his methods, despite going into some detail describing the methods of other mediums). The book is the first published by Helmudson for over five years. High Society, Media, University I’ll tell you what, that Helmudson guy really knows his stuff, way I heard it he’d managed to surpass most of the mediums he mentions in his book after a few months, guess he’s just got a natural talent for this sort of thing. Nice guy as well, very self depreciating, not the scary guy that many think him. Guess some people are put off by his sharp intellect. ''Saturday '''Health, Media, Police, Street, University' The Constabulary has put out an all points bulletin for the arrest of the man thought to have killed Detective Richard Summers, the officer shot and butchered last night on the university campus. Photographs of the suspect have been issued to all officers after forensic evidence confirmed that Summers’ was shot by a gun registered as in the possession of the chief suspect. Both The Constabulary and an unnamed local business are offering a reward of £500,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of the suspect. Finance, Legal, Media, Police, Underworld, University Just what was Detective Richard Summers doing at the university? Investigations are focussing on the fact that he received (or possibly made, the phone records have a gap around the time of the incident) a phone call to an unidentified third party, who has be categorically identified as not being the chief suspect (but being a nonetheless disturbing find anyway). It had long been rumoured that Summers may in fact have been on the take, investigations into his bank accounts have shown that he has received numerous anonymous payments over the years, each one corresponding with the dropping of a case he was working on. The Constabulary is now focussing on a payment of £100,000 last week from a bank in the Cayman Islands. Church, High Society, Media, Politics Church leaders have roundly condemned the murder of Richard Summers and asked that the perpetrator turn themselves over to the authorities. Although preliminary investigations have revealed that Summers’ was in fact corrupt, the church has commented that “it is not the place of others to judge”. However others in the church are not so sure and have asked for clemency against those suspected of involvement in the crime. Finance, Street, Underworld Want to know the truth about Detective Summers? Sure he was on the take; every guy on the street knew that, which is why he was such a popular copper with the criminals. He didn’t turn a blind eye to everything, there were certain things that he wouldn’t let pass, and he certainly didn’t show indication that he was worth the quarter of a million that The Constabulary is now saying. Big question is why didn’t Internal Affairs pick up on his behaviour, they’ve been all over every other bent copper for the last six months. My guess is that they were using him to try and track who was paying, after all, knowing that is just as important as knowing who’s on the take. Bureaucracy, Legal, Police, Underworld Summers was being paid off by both The Consortium and the Sandernacht Group for “services rendered”, though records show that it was never for information about the other. One was asking him to turn a blind eye to its prostitution rings, the other to its drug running, and interestingly there appears to be little crossover between their requirements. Rumour has it that he kept accurate diaries detailing the nature of all of his transactions (although why a man involved in such an illegal activity would do so remains unknown), although crucially the ledger dealing with the last six months is missing. Internal Affairs is now focussing on locating the missing ledger. Finance, Industry, Media, Occult The city’s financial departments have recorded an increase in traffic over the last twenty for hours as a number of companies have liquidated their assets to create large cash pools, although the reason for this has not yet been determined. In all over twenty million pounds of assets were sold last night in order to raise cash, leading to a rise on share values for a number of companies across the city. More interesting are the number of private individuals (including it is rumoured James Helmudson) that have engaged in similar behaviour. The Constabulary is now considering whether to freeze these funds in case the intention is to illegally destabilise the economy. Finance, High Society, Industry, Occult What do an industrialist, a collector of rare antiquities and James Helmudson all have in common? They all appear to have transferred over a third of their assets into cash reserves over the last twenty four hours. None involved will comment as to the reasons behind this behaviour (Helmudson joked that he intended to use the cash to ensure that his book went to number one), but the rumours of the possibility of an auction of some sort scheduled for tonight would be a good guess at their intentions. Of course, no one knows what is being auctioned, or even if there is an auction, but then with these kinds of stories it’s always about what people don’t know. High Society, Media, Police For Sale: Phased Plasma Rifle in the 40kW range, plus assorted accessories. It’s not everyday that you see something like that advertised in the paper (or that you see papers willing to print such adverts), but the Evening Sentinel broke new ground last night with that (and another advert apparently offered a Silkscreen Suit, whatever that is). The advert has raised some concerns, and it is rumoured a Constabulary investigation, that illegal arms are being dealt in the city, although so far no one has been able to determine the source of the advert (the Sentinel has lost its records relating to the advert). The Constabulary has raised the security at its tactical response units. High Society, Legal, Media, Politics First we have the “Sam” story, then adverts for Phased Plasma Rifles (whatever one of those may be), all with little apparent reason for their publishing. Many are now worried that the papers are being used as a message board by terrorist organisations and it is rumoured that an emergency bill may be going through local government to prevent the publication of unsolicited adverts and articles in local papers (it is believed that similar legislation is already in place with regards national papers, which places the “Sam” story in an interesting context) until their security implications have been cleared by The Constabulary. Bureaucracy, Legal, Media, Police, Politics The Constabulary has been forced to confirm that they are currently involved in a multi-agency investigation into terrorist activities in the city after three officers involved in the operation were killed in their safe house last night. It is thought that their activities had been compromised by one of the cells they had been investigating, leading to an attack upon the safe house which left them all dead. More worrying, a number of key documents detailing the investigation have gone missing, possibly compromising the integrity of the operation. Extra officers have been drafted in from surrounding counties to attempt to recover the documents quickly. Police, Underworld They haven’t released anything about it, but it appears that there is a professional hitman at work in the city and that he may be responsible for the death of the team investigating terrorist groups in the city. They think he’s linked to or may be freelancing for one of the terrorist groups in the city, but obviously they won’t confirm anything. If this is true this raises the stakes further, anyone who is willing to hire a professional killer to take down police is willing to so anything. High Society, Media, Occult Just where did James Helmudson disappear to last night? One minute he’s the life and soul of the party, the next he’s seen deep in conversation with a number of unidentified individuals and then he’s gone, with no explanation. However, the publishers aren’t writing it off as a complete loss, stating that books will continue to sell as long as he continues to be such an enigmatic figure they say the books will continue to sell. Still, it must be worrying when your star attraction keeps wandering off without checking with you first. Church, Occult Someone was pulling some serious magic last night, not your normal run of the mill stuff, old, primordial magic, the like of which has not been seen for eons. If you want my guess I’d say it was Helmudson; there’s so much we don’t know about him and he rarely gives the answers you want., but when you’ve got the kind of power he has I guess you don’t have to. ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. Finance, High Society, Police, Street, Transport Trying to book a hotel room in the city? I wouldn’t bother; did you see the fleet of cars that came into the city last night? All sorts of makes and sizes with only one thing in common, they all cost money. Most of them appeared to have a police escort of some kind as well, caused all sorts of trouble on the roads. If you ask me something big is going down tonight and it isn’t legal, you don’t get that kind of money from legitimate means. ''Sunday '''Finance, High Society, Industry, Media, Police, Politics' Okay, so last night was a weird one; we had the usual bar fights and mass violence that the city seems to attract on a Saturday night, but it doesn’t usually involve multi millionaires and industrialists. The violence, which broke out with no apparent reason, was centred over the sale of a number of goods later identified as the rumoured ex-Castelan equipment for sale in the city (which explains the Phased Plasma Rifle advert on the Friday night). In all over thirty arrests were made and goods and monies seized from over half of those present, although disturbingly a number of weapons that were for sale appear to have been taken from the scene. The Constabulary has taken control of the bank accounts of all of those arrested. Finance, High Society, Legal, Media, Occult, Police Well, The Constabulary made some arrests, however they also allowed some to get away, most noticeably James Helmudson (although what someone so vocally against Castelan during their reign was doing at an auction of their goods remains to be seen). Obviously being an independent contractor for them has its benefits, you don’t get arrested being the chief one apparently. Of course, the media continues to focus on who was arrested, but that’s because there are gag orders on everyone preventing them mentioning who got away. Legal, Media, Police, Politics, Street, Underworld The Constabulary has launched a full scale operation for the arrest of the three individuals now identified as being the heads of the Sandernacht Group; Daniel Stein, Michael Redhill and “The Lady” (an as yet unidentified individual thought to be linked to the discovery of an arms cache in the Trentham area). The decision came after the three were seen leaving the auction of Castelan related items last night, leading to the fear that they may now be trading in military grade weaponry, a major concern for the authorities. The operation marks the first time that Sandernacht has been officially named by the authorities. High Society, Media, Police Wow, well I didn’t see that one coming. So John winters really does know who Sandernacht is, well that’s not going to affect his credibility and if he manages to pull off the task of actually arresting all three of the titular heads I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a knighthood around the corner. After all these years of people speculating how one person could run such a large scale operation it turns out it because there’s three of them, guess that explains how he manages to be in so many places at the same time. Bureaucracy, Finance, Media, Police, Politics, Street If I worked for The Constabulary I’d be putting in for raise right now, the city has increased their funding by twenty-five percent for the next financial year based on their findings with regards the Sandernacht Group. Chief Constable John Winters has been personally charged with apprehending and destroying the crime group and has been given authority to take his investigation into other counties in pursuit of the three chief individuals. The move has angered some however who noted that the money (which came from an anonymous European donor) was designed to help redevelop the city, although Winters has been quick to note that there can be no better way to redevelop than to successfully prosecute those who seek to destroy the city. Police, Underworld So let me get this right, The Consortium and the Sandernacht Group are the same people; and this whole treading on each others toes things is really a way of muscling everyone else of the streets? Doesn’t make any sense to me and it definitely sounds like someone is trying to stitch someone up, although the big question is why? However I guess that’s an issue for Internal Affairs once this whole sorry saga has come to an end. Occult, Street Okay, so these three nobodies are Sandernacht? Not convinced. My money would be on it being James Helmudson, there’s defiantly something about him that we don’t know yet, no one gets that wealthy just by selling a couple of academic books. If I were the Constabulary I’d be looking to see if there are any links between the three stooges and him. Course, no one ever listens to anything I say so I might as well not bother. ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. Finance, High Society, Street, University Well, what did you expect; those jazz lovers are all the same! The owner and proprietor of the Mr. Redd’s chain has been named as one of the three people behind the Sandernacht Group. All of the bars have been closed down and his bank accounts frozen, but I wouldn’t worry about it; there are only a couple of beatniks that are going to notice the difference and that’s not any loss. Church, Finance, Health, Media, Politics Church leaders have expressed their surprise at the issuing of an arrest warrant for Daniel Stein as one of the leaders of the Sandernacht Group, commenting on the good work he has done in the community over the last year and the contribution Daniel Stein Investments has made to the rehabilitation of drug users. This hasn’t stopped the authorities from closing down all of the soup kitchens and seizing assets in an effort to flush Stein out, leading to accusations that The Constabulary is putting its arrest record ahead of the interests of the community.